EXTRA street cleaning on Devon’s roads will be carried out after the recent floods and storms .

Devon County Council said it was re-deploying all of its highways teams into the clean-up operation.

Having sustained ongoing torrential downpours in the past few weeks, the council said it received nearly 7,000 reports of flooded roads, potholes and fallen trees since December 20.

The authority said it was still assessing the full extent of the recent storm damage to the county’s highway network and a number of sea walls.

The authority said it was redirecting all of its highways teams into the clean-up in order to inspect and restore the local salting network ahead of forecast cold weather.

The council said routine work was being suspended so the teams could “target repairs to potholes and safety defects”.

The council said hat while the recent damage was not thought to be anywhere near as bad as the £18 million damage by the major flood events in 2012/13, it had put the county council at full stretch.

Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council cabinet member for highway management and flood prevention, said: “It makes sense to adopt this strategy as an urgent response to the amount of damage that has been caused to Devon’s roads. The priority is to try and resolve as many of the safety and emergency issues on the roads which carry the bulk of the traffic in the county and provide key routes into communities.

“Our highway network has again taken a battering from the volume of rainfall in recent weeks so we need to focus on repairing the damage and clearing problem drains and gullies. We can expect issues with water run-off for some time, which will cause problems if we have a freeze. Therefore we need to make sure our salting network is in the best possible condition before we see the return of night-time frosts which are forecast for the second half of the month.”

Cllr Hughes said the recent storms highlighted funding issues for the county.

Devon’s 8,000 mile highway network, the biggest of any authority in the country, needs £62 million a year of investment to maintain its current condition. The budget for the current financial year stands at £39 million, with just over £2million committed to legacy repairs this financial year.

He said: “Our teams have been well prepared during these recent storms, and the robust arrangements we have in place has helped provide a consistent response. However, the budget pressures we’re facing will limit our capacity to address reported problems and improve our highway drainage network, and this needs to be discussed with Government. We still haven’t recovered from last year’s storms, and we'll be dealing with the legacy for the next four years, in terms of the ongoing repairs.”